1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scale imprintable camera. More particularly, the present invention relates to any type of camera, for example, a still camera, video camera, or any electrically recordable camera, by which a reference scale can be superimposed and imprinted onto memory storage media, including, for example, photographic film, magnetic discs, magnetic tape, or any semiconductor memory, to estimate the size of a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras are known in which a stepwise object distance is selectable and a photographic magnification which corresponds to a selected object distance is superimposed and imprinted on a photographic image surface. In this type of camera, the photographic magnification is recorded with predetermined magnifications, such as 1/8 or 1/12, etc., corresponding to the selected object distance. When an object distance is selected, the corresponding photographic magnification characters are imprinted in a corner of the photographic picture surface.
Nevertheless, in prior art cameras, the predetermined photographic magnification characters are imprinted only when the photographic magnification is previously selected. A problem arises in that the photographic magnification characters cannot be imprinted at a variable magnification (e.g., a magnification which does not correspond to one of the predetermined characters). Further, as discussed in Japanese Patent Publication HEI4-323506, conventional cameras which superimpose and imprint a reference scale onto a recording medium issue a warning and take a picture without superimposing the reference scale when the distance to the subject is above a specified value since the error in the reference scale is too large. A problem arises when a warning is issued when the distance to the subject is above a specified value but the photographer overlooks the warning and takes the picture not realizing the reference scale is not being superimposed and imprinted.
In addition to the difficulty of intuitively estimating the actual size of the subject from the size of the object image and the imprinted magnification on the film, there is a problem that the imprinted magnification is the photographic magnification for the subject image on the negative. When enlargement is performed during printing, the photographic magnification is changed and the actual size of the subject cannot be easily calculated from the imprinted photographic magnification.